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Vote on election day for......

SwampMatt

SwampMatt

Well-known member
There is another thread going here that is good - get out there and vote!!!
http://www.southernairboat.com/phpBB2/v ... php?t=3778
A good thread with good stuff - For those who don't get the NRA publications - there is a good link in that thread that gives almost everyone on the ballot a GRADE about how they stand on gun issues.

This one is for Amendment 8 - Eminent Domain.

This ballot item is confusing to say the least!!!! And it's important.

Here is some info I got from a Property Rights group I belong to:
When Florida property owners head to the polls on November 7, they will not only have the opportunity to cast votes on our State's elected leadership but will have the ability to to vote on Amendment 8, a measure designed to protect private property rights.

Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature wisely took action following the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial 5-4 split decision in the Kelo v. New London eminent domain case. In Kelo, the Court failed to uphold the sanctity of the Public Use clause of the Fifth amendment when ruling that the City of New London, Connecticut could lawfully use its power of eminent domain to seize the homes of Susette Kelo and several neighbors - not for a specific public "use" such as a road or school, but for the public "purpose" of economic development.

In response to the Kelo decision, lawmakers forged a two-track legislative solution designed to reverse Kelo in Florida and effectively end this form of eminent domain abuse in our state.

Their first strategy was to enact strong and meaningful changes in the state statutes governing the use of eminent domain which would provide immediate protections for Florida property owners. These statutory reforms were signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush in May and include provisions which prohibit the taking of property through eminent domain under the guise of blight or slum eradication and prevent government entities from selling or transferring properties taken through eminent domain for a period of ten years. These protections are now the law of the land in Florida and Florida's new laws are considered among the strongest post-Kelo reforms in the nation.

However, legislative leaders also saw the clear need to create a second, long-term layer of protection. They understood that without any safeguard in our State Constitution, at any time a future Legislature might meet, Florida land owners could lose the hard-won property rights recently restored.

The Legislature proposed an amendment, which will appear on the November 7 General Election ballot as Amendment 8, requiring a three-fifths supermajority vote of both houses of the Florida Legislature to make changes to the legislation governing the transfer of properties taken through eminent domain.

Any Florida property owner who believes in the sanctity of property ownership and that government's power of eminent domain should be specifically limited to true public uses should strongly support Amendment 8.

Amendment 8 will provide a necessary and long-term safeguard against eminent domain abuse in our State and prevent future legislatures from easily amending or revoking the powerful limitations placed on government's eminent domain power earlier this year.



OFFICIAL BALLOT LANGUAGE

The official ballot language will read as follows:

AMENDMENT 8: EMINENT DOMAIN

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to prohibit the transfer of private property taken by eminent domain to a natural person or private entity, providing that the Legislature may by general law passed by a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature permit exceptions allowing the transfer of such private property; and providing that this prohibition on the transfer of private property taken by eminent domain is applicable if the petition of taking that initiated the condemnation proceeding was filed on or after January 2, 2007.
Click to expand...

I realize this is a lot of small type to read. The nutshell is this:
Any Florida property owner who believes in the sanctity of property ownership and that government's power of eminent domain should be specifically limited to true public uses should strongly support Amendment 8.

i.e. vote yes on 8 (and 3)


Some of those other ammendments to the state constitution are written in a very confusing way also. It's like they use certain key words to tug at your heart strings to get you to vote one way or the other - and all the while never fully understand what you just voted for!!!!! :angry4: Why can't they put it in everyday terms???!!!

matt.
 
Good one Matt.
I did not know about that being on the ballot.
I hear ya on the wording they use, and sometime it seems like a trick question.

Sometime I gotta read it twice to make sure I'm casting the vote I desire.

Everybody, get out and vote!

Thanks again Mood.
Good post.
 
Thanks, Matt. Ammendment #8 is a biggie. It would have prevented what happened to those folks at Riviera Beach in my opinion.

Good job.

olf
 
a bump back to the top as election day nears.

Also, just in case anyone is unclear about what eminent domain is.... (as I understand it - Please correct me if I'm mistaken in this definition)

If your neighborhood is a slum, the city or county can basically conficate your property after they have created a master plan which would re-develop the area to be more beneficial to the community.

They'll pay you a token price for your land.... you may consider it a good price, but you may not. And you may want to sit on your property for a few more years. But when they use eminent domain you can't. If you don't accept their price, they can take it and not pay you anything.

THe law says they can take your land to improve the community. And that is where the stick point lies. What is an improvement? Widening a road would be a good use that everyone can ACTUALLY USE. But sometimes a city will confiscate land, then turn around and sell it to a developer - at a profit for the city. They call this profit something the community can use. And they call the project the developer builds an improvement to the community.

Add to the motivation for this to happen - the city/county will get more in property taxes as a result of the increased value.

Oh, also.... and I'm sure this NEVER happens.... lots of money changes hands during this sort of LARGE transaction. Our elected officials (public servants) never profit on a personal level from these deals. :roll:

All this still looks sort of good here in black and white.... but consider this.... You have some property. You own it. You want to keep it for another generation or retirement. But the city/county comes in and says it looks ugly as a swamp or it does not fit with "their plan" or is full of trash or whatever.... and they take it from you.

Not good. That is eminent domain as the supreme court has defined it.

Amendment 8 helps get around that supreme court ruling - it guves us a higher standard and more protection for property owners.

Now, Amendment 3. This one os not just for Gun Rights. This one plays an important role in protection of ALL our rights too.

Official Ballot Language:
AMENDMENT 3: REQUIRING BROADER PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS

Proposing an amendment to Section 5 of Article XI of the State Constitution
to require that any proposed amendment to revision of the State
Constitution, whether proposed by the Legislature, by initiative, or by any
other method, must be approved by at least 60 percent of the voters of the
state voting on the measure, rather than by a simple majority. This
proposed amendment would not change the current requirement that a
proposed constitutional amendment imposing a new state tax or fee be
approved by at least 2/3 percent of the voters of the state voting in the
election in which such an amendment is considered.
Click to expand...

If anyone sees a reason to vote otherwise.... (I'll listen) Please vote yes on both 8 & 3. I'm not here to command someone vote one way or the other, and I'll happily listen to any discussion.

Both these ammendments affect (or could affect) airboats in a round about way. More directly, they protect our general rights and make attacks to our rights more difficult.

matt.
 
They still have to pay the fair market value when they take your land. You may not like what they call fair market value but they do have to pay for it.

Who owns land in America? I have a few acres, a house and a couple of out buildings but I don't think I really own any of it. First the county decides what and where I can build. It's not my land if I can't decide that on my own. Next I have to pay more in taxes than I paid for a morgage on my first house. Eventually my taxes and my retirement income will be equal and the county will eventually have to take it from me when I can no longer afford to pay. Heck, the Democrates even want to tax the air we breath. It's called the green tax. If you don't have enough land to produce oxygen generating plants you will pay a penalty. Wow, what are we doing?

Let me know if you really own your land. I don't think you do.
 
Don't get me started, A good friend of mine just built a house on five acres given to them by their father. Their mortgage is $530 a month and their property tax is $830 a month because the county appraised the property so high. Needless to say the can't afford it and their new dream house is up for sale because they can't pay the taxes. The America started out as a republic then around 1864 when all the states lost their rights it became a democracy and now were headed somewhere close to communism where the government runs everything. I know allot of people probably the majority who feel and believe the government should run health care, insurance, airlines and all power companies.
 
That's true DesMoines - Fair market. But for someone who does not want to sell, how can fair be determined? If you don't want to sell, fair is not taking the property at any price.

It's based on comparibles and that can be manipulated. Add in the county appraiser's office can put whatever "value" on it they want.... It's theivery.

Yeah about the permits and stuff. I'm with you 100% on that. By the way you've described it.... it sounds as if we RENT our land from the county which is just acting as an "agent" for the federal gov't. When you "buy" land you are really just buying the exclusive right to pay rent on it? Rent that goes by the name "taxes".

Sure, that's one way of looking at it. I won't argue that there are a lot of things that need fixing when it comes to that.

One step is on our Florida Ballot this time around.... Amendment 6 - About the ONLY one worded in easy to understand language!!! It asks if we should increase the homestead exemption from $25k to $50k for low income senior citizens.

It's a drop in the bucket, but a step in the right direction.

Sorry Waterthunder. I can tell you are already started. But you run pretty good. So we don't mind it when you get started! :)

I'm going to reference this thread again.... http://www.southernairboat.com/phpBB2/v ... =7944#7944
where I spoke of the "Stages of Democracy".

What stage are we in????

Do you think it's possible for a second civil war to start?

They brainwash people to believe the last one started over a fight about slavery. The next one will be over the exact same issues as the last one... State's rights over economic issues.

matt.
 
Everyone please reread this proposed amendment 8. A vote for this will allow the transfer of property taken by eminent domain to a private entity.
As the current law stands this cannot be done. Please check out
votesmartflorida.org. This is a nonpartisian site that does not take either side. They simply explain what will happen if something is passed vs. if it is not. But I think after reading this , most will see that if passed, then you will be giving the florida lesgislature permission to take your property
and give it to a private entity. Even if they have to keep it for ten years.
 
Midnight ridrer--- I went to the votesmartflorida.org site, but it asked for a signon ?? Then it woldn't let me in -- any ideas ??
 
Same thing happened to me....I did a google search for votesmartflorida.org and followed that link. Got in without a problem.
 
Midnight - Thanks for the VoteSmart site. I bookmarked that one! Thanks.


Here is a link to where they talk about amendment 8
http://www.votesmartflorida.org/mx/hm.asp?id=amendment8

Are you sure you are not getting things switched around? The first words of the amendment are: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to prohibit the transfer of private property taken by eminent domain to a natural person or private entity......

Some way for the state to transfer property into private hands must be in place. What if they take a large area of land for a road project, but don't use all of it. The state should be able to get rid of surplus land.

I think what this ammendment does is to prohibit the outright abuse of that loophole by some underhanded greedy people. The people who would take the land with the intent of turning it over to private developers just for the profit. This ammendment sort of makes that more difficult, yet still allows the state to do what it NEEDS to do at times.

Thanks for the link to the VoteSmart.org. I like the way they put the pro's and con's right there next to each other. I'm headed back there to read more about the other ammendments!

Thanks again.

matt.
 
No, problem. See this is one of the great things about our country. We get to make up our own minds and vote.
The biggest thing is, that if passed, it will allow the legislature to decide what to do with it after ten years and a 3/5ths vote. In other words if some one wants to build condos on the river, then the state will be able to take that land and after ten years give that to a private developer to build on, because it will generate revenue. Rather than right now it says the land owner must be given fair market value and the land has to be used for somthing public. (i.e. schools, parks, water treatment plants, so on and so on.) That is just how I understand it. But, I will reread it again.
 
Florida Farm Bureau
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA)

Here is 2 proponents I trust, if they back it it probably is the best thing.

Grant
 
Big 10-4 on that Grant!
Check out the ones who oppose #3.
Gives me a pretty darned good idea where I should stand on that one too.

Midnight,
That votesmart link is the deal!
 
Had already decided from what I had heard from other sources.

The votesmart link spells it all out. Puts it all in one place.

Grant
 
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